In the past couple of years adult industry has gone through a lot of changes. One of the most significant ones is that everyone now seems to have a fan site… or even a few fan sites!
OnlyFans has become a household name, and it appears that nearly every adult entertainer uses it. And, when everyone is doing it, the fear of missing out creeps in quite quickly — effectively pushing creators to at least *think* they need to be on there… and on there… and “on there” too!
Even if you are not someone who would want to run a subscription site otherwise, you might think that you need to because that is what makes everyone successful these days. I’ve been there, and I’ve done that as well.
After effectively getting caught up in the hype, I left OnlyFans in April of 2020 and looked at different fan sites hoping that maybe I just hadn’t found the right one. After several months of trying to get into the routine posting on fan sites, I still felt frustrated and unmotivated. Something was missing — and that’s when I realized that fan sites are not for me, and there is nothing wrong with that.
“Am I they only one that hates this?” — Nope!
Unsurprisingly, I am not the only creator who has felt frustrated with fan sites. I also had a chat with Effie Ophelia and Katie Blush about this issue.
“I’ve primarily used OnlyFans, but also used Frisk and JustFor.Fans. My experience on OnlyFans, financially, has been positive, but mentally it’s a bit of a drain,” Ophelia shared.
Her main obstacles were technical issues on OnlyFans, combined with inconsistent communication from the support team and the demand of constant content production.
“The demand for constant content production didn’t work for me when it came to my paid page,” Ophelia explained. “I’m more inclined towards custom requests or one-on-one sessions where I can help a client realize a fantasy they haven’t been able to, and trying to hit the most general market with content production wasn’t for me.”
“I changed my paid page to an archive so that if anyone wants to see a bunch of pictures immediately, they can subscribe and I’ll post on it when I feel like it, rather than sticking to an unsustainable schedule,” she added.
Ophelia currently posts on her free OnlyFans a few times a week and on her paid page only enough to keep it active by OnlyFans standards.
Anyway happy Monday, y'all! What are you looking forward to this week? pic.twitter.com/FcAFigDdko
— Effie Ophelia (@effieophelia_) March 22, 2021
Blush has struggled to keep up with the fan site trend as well due to her struggles of keeping up with constant promo and getting burnt out.
“The initial hype of opening an account always attracted me a good starting sub count, but even after $3 sub price, daily posting and using PPV, I still couldn’t keep up with the constant promo needed to gain and keep new subs,” Blush said.
“I had a mental health blip for a couple months and couldn’t post daily for a while, and I had burnt myself out. I posted three times a week, but that wasn’t enough to keep them while still doing PPV. I watched the 50 subs I had worked 6 months for dwindle down to 12, and it was just soul crushing,” Blush shared.
She has not left OnlyFans completely but has reworked her fan site strategy.
“My OnlyFans is now not a big earner, but [it is] a stable one and I’ll take that,” she said. “My 20 regulars always have rebill turned on and warn me if they need to turn it off for a bit. I don’t do PPV or shoutouts-for-shoutouts anymore, but my subscription price is $6 a month. I post maybe, every 5 or 6 days to keep it updated.”
I’m definitely the office hottie 🥵🔥 pic.twitter.com/1upkApyVu7
— 🫦 Katie Blush 🫦 (they/she) (@Katie_BlushBBW) May 27, 2021
Moving Away from the Fan Site-Centered Business Model
When I realized that fan sites are not my kind of thing, the fear of missing out was still there and countless “what if” questions were filling my mind. The impostor syndrome snuck up on me. I felt like if I could not keep up with the latest trends, I simply would not last in the adult industry.
Fortunately for me and everyone else who struggles to be the modern day fan site influencer, there are many other ways to make things work. You can still run your subscription site your way, posting as frequently as you want or ditch it completely – the choice is yours. Even without a fan site you can still offer cam shows, texting packages and special deals for your fans.
At the end of the day, online sex work offers you the opportunity to do things your way. Take advantage of it and look after yourself.
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Alison Sparks is a solo adult content creator and writer. Find her on Twitter at @itsalisonsparks and email her via alison@ynotcam.com.
Background header image via Unsplash here.
